Thomas Sheridan (soldier)

Thomas Sheridan (1775 – 12 September 1817), known as Tom Sheridan, was the only son of the Irish playwright and poet Richard Brinsley Sheridan and the soprano Elizabeth Ann Linley, although his father had at least one other son from a second marriage. Born in mid-November 1775, Thomas initially tried for a career in politics but was unsuccessful.

The courtship of Sheridan's parents, the soprano Elizabeth Ann Linley and the playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan, was described in newspaper reports as "one of the classic romances of the west country" and stated that his mother was "the most beautiful singer in England"; she abandoned her career as a singer when she married Richard in April 1773 as he thought her profession reflected badly on his status as a gentleman. She had several miscarriages before Sheridan was born in mid-November 1775; she named him after Thomas Linley, and Thomas Sheridan, his maternal and paternal grandfathers respectively. The young Sheridan was sent to boarding school in Hatton, Warwickshire in early 1786, where he was educated by Samuel Parr. Parr described him as having "great acuteness, excellent understanding, wit and humour, but not a particle of knowledge." The English historian William Smyth was engaged as his tutor after the death of Sheridan's mother in 1792. Sheridan entered Trinity College, Cambridge in 1795. According to Smyth, Sheridan was the "idol of the young men" when at Cambridge and his fellow students thought him "the cleverest fellow in the place", although Smyth added his own rider clarifying that in humour and fun this was the case.

Sheridan married Caroline Henrietta Callander of Craigforth (1779–1851), a daughter of Sir James Campbell, on 21 June 1805. Sheridan's father was initially against the marriage, and threatened to sever financial support to his son; Caroline did have a small inheritance but it was insufficient to fully support the couple. They had six or seven children. Their eldest son, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, was appointed as High Sheriff of Dorset in 1838 and pursued a political career. The couple's daughters included Helen Blackwood, Baroness Dufferin and Claneboye; the feminist Caroline Norton; and Georgiana Seymour, Duchess of Somerset.

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